#asset management documents

[iso-certification-consultant]

Global Manager Group (GMG), a leading supplier of readymade documentation, training and consulting services for management systems, is happy to announce the release of its upgraded ISO 55001:2024 documentation toolkit. With the help of this editable document package, organizations may successfully implement and operate an asset management system that complies with the most recent version of the international standard.

[documentationconsultancy]

Documentationconsultancy.com reintroduces ISO 55001 documents toolkit for the Asset Management System. To gain ISO 55001 certification, businesses must implement Asset Management System and prepared document as per their requirements. All asset types and organizations can benefit from effective asset management that saves money, time, and labor according to the ISO 55001:2014 standard. A thorough and efficient approach to organizational asset management is ensured by the extensive collection of required and supporting documents on asset management provided by the ISO 55001:2014 Documentation Toolkit.

[iso13485-blog]

In today's quickly changing corporate landscape, the concept of future-proofing operations has never been more important. As organizations attempt to handle uncertainty and technological breakthroughs, effective asset management strategies emerge as a critical predictor of long-term success.

In this investigation, we look at the critical role of the ISO 55001 manual in asset management, determining how its implementation not only assures compliance but also lays the groundwork for future resilience and operational excellence.

[smartcaddengineering]

Why Accurate As-Built Documentation Matters in Large-Scale Projects?

In construction, especially on large-scale projects, one of the most critical yet often underappreciated aspects is the need for accurate As-Built Documentation. These documents ensure that the final constructed structure is precisely recorded, reflecting any changes or deviations made during the construction phase compared to the original design. This information becomes invaluable for future renovations, maintenance, or asset management. However, inaccurate or incomplete as-built documentation can lead to costly errors, inefficiencies, and complications down the road.

Accurate As-Built Documentation plays an essential role in several areas of construction, including As-Built Drawings, data integration with the COBie Database, and effective Asset Management. This article will explore why as-built documentation is so vital for large-scale construction projects and how it contributes to the project's overall success.

What is As-Built Documentation?

As-Built Documentation refers to a collection of records, including drawings, plans, and models, that depict the actual conditions of a building or structure at the time of project completion. These documents reflect any modifications, design changes, or adjustments that occur during the construction process. The accuracy of these documents is vital because they serve as the "final blueprint" for the building.

There are different components to As-Built Documentation, including:

As-Built Drawings: These are detailed illustrations showing the final design and construction details. As-built drawings are typically updated throughout the construction phase to ensure they capture any deviations from the original plans.

COBie Database (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange): COBie is a standard for managing and exchanging facility information. As-built documentation can be integrated into the COBie Database, ensuring that important asset data is maintained for future use, especially for facility management and operations.

The Role of As-Built Drawings in Large-Scale Projects

Large-scale construction projects require a significant amount of coordination, and As-Built Drawings serve as the foundation for this coordination. They provide a visual record of what was built versus what was designed, helping all stakeholders—including architects, contractors, and asset managers—understand the final construction.

Key Benefits of Accurate As-Built Drawings

Improved Communication Between Stakeholders: As-built drawings provide a clear and accurate picture of the finished project, allowing for better communication between all parties involved. Whether it’s facility managers maintaining the building or contractors working on renovations, these drawings ensure everyone is on the same page.

Cost and Time Savings: Accurate as-built drawings can save time and reduce costs in the long run by preventing misunderstandings and mistakes during future projects. When facility managers or contractors have accurate drawings, they are less likely to encounter surprises that lead to delays or additional costs.

Compliance with Regulations: Large-scale construction projects often require strict adherence to building codes and regulations. As-built drawings help to confirm that the final construction complies with these codes, which can prevent legal issues or penalties.

Foundation for Future Modifications: When it comes time to renovate, expand, or retrofit a large-scale building, accurate as-built drawings serve as a reliable starting point. Without accurate documentation, future construction teams may encounter significant setbacks due to discrepancies between the actual building and the original plans.

Integrating As-Built Documentation into the COBie Database

For large-scale projects, managing facility data is a daunting task, especially when it comes to asset management. Integrating As-Built Documentation into the COBie Database simplifies this task by organizing information in a format that can be used throughout the building's lifecycle.

What is COBie?

COBie, or Construction Operations Building Information Exchange, is a data standard that helps project teams capture and manage asset data throughout the building’s lifecycle. It is used to organize data such as equipment lists, product data, warranties, and maintenance schedules. By integrating as-built documentation with COBie, facility managers and asset managers gain access to vital information needed for the building's operation and maintenance.

Benefits of Using COBie with As-Built Documentation

Streamlined Asset Management: Incorporating as-built documentation into COBie ensures that critical asset information is easily accessible. This helps facility managers keep track of equipment and building systems, simplifying maintenance and future renovations.

Enhanced Facility Maintenance: COBie allows facility managers to access information about building components such as HVAC systems, electrical systems, and plumbing. With accurate as-built documentation, these systems can be maintained more efficiently, ensuring they operate at peak performance.

Lifecycle Management: One of the main benefits of COBie is that it supports the entire lifecycle of a building. When combined with accurate as-built documentation, the database provides a robust resource for managing the building’s performance, maintenance, and operational costs over time.

Importance of Accurate As-Built Documentation for Asset Management

Effective Asset Management relies heavily on the accuracy of As-Built Documentation. In large-scale projects, where the cost of maintenance and operations can be substantial, having a reliable and detailed record of the building’s structure, systems, and assets is crucial.

How As-Built Documentation Enhances Asset Management

Informed Decision-Making: Asset managers can make more informed decisions about repairs, upgrades, and renovations with accurate as-built documents. They can easily reference the specific location of building components and assess their condition.

Improved Planning for Renovations: Accurate as-built documentation helps asset managers plan renovations more effectively. They can identify areas where systems are aging or where expansions are possible without disrupting existing systems.

Cost Control: With accurate data on the building's components, asset managers can more effectively budget for repairs and upgrades, minimizing the risk of unexpected expenses.

Sustainability and Efficiency: As-built documentation also plays a role in enhancing the sustainability and efficiency of a building. Accurate records allow asset managers to monitor the performance of energy systems and identify areas where efficiency can be improved, reducing operational costs and the building's carbon footprint.

Conclusion

Accurate As-Built Documentation is essential for large-scale construction projects. From improving communication between stakeholders to facilitating asset management and integrating with the COBie Database, as-built documentation ensures that buildings are well-documented, compliant, and easier to manage over their lifecycle. As-Built Drawings provide the detailed visual information needed for future projects, while the COBie Database organizes asset data for better facility management. Ultimately, investing in accurate as-built documentation helps ensure that large-scale projects are completed successfully and maintained efficiently in the long run.

[rajaniesh]

Mastering Microsoft Purview Workflow: Revolutionize Your Data Governance

Dive into the world of Microsoft Purview Workflow, a key to mastering data governance. Learn how it automates data integrity, compliance, and collaboration, revolutionizing your organization's data management practices for unparalleled efficiency and sec

[dc-probate-attorney]

Four More Ways to Stop Inheritance Theft in Your Family

In our previous post, we talked about some ways you can prevent inheritance theft in your family. Since there are so many ways this type of theft can occur, the steps to take to prevent this from happening can vary. If you have a strained relationship with a parent or live a long distance away, it can be difficult to get access to many of the documents we mentioned in our previous post. There are…

[aiolegalservices]

AIO Business and Startup Support- Companies Formation & Flag Registration and Securing Fund

AIO Legal Services is currently offering financial support and offshore registration assessments for businesses and startups around the world. AIO Legal Services as  a Qualified Intermediary (QI) at the Marshall Islands Registry, has the ability   to provide your business with a range of services, including: • Company formation; • Flag registration; • Due diligence preparation and…

[gcabestva]

Asset for being a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are the backbone of many businesses. They provide administrative and clerical support to companies, allowing their clients to focus on their core business activities. While many people think that being a virtual assistant is just answering emails and making phone calls, there's much more to it than that! A great virtual assistant will have excellent time management skills, multitask while simultaneously keeping track of several projects, and pay good attention to detail when organizing information or documents.

Virtual Assistant Skills

You need a few skills to be a virtual assistant, but they can be learned. The most important thing is the ability to type quickly and accurately. You will also need excellent communication skills to communicate clearly with your clients and colleagues.

As far as customer service representatives go, there are several different types of positions available in this field: answering phones, processing orders or taking messages for customers who call in; helping customers find products through catalogs or websites; resolving complaints from customers (whether through refunds or exchanges); providing information about company policies or other issues related to using its services; researching solutions for problems outside regular working hours when necessary.

Being a virtual assistant is an excellent asset for those looking to make money from home.

Many benefits come with being a VA, including:

Flexible schedule - VAs can set their hours and work around their lives, so you can choose when they want to work and how much time they want to put into it each day. You may even be able to work while traveling!

Work from anywhere - Because most of our clients are located in different places worldwide, we need an office or other physical location where everyone works together daily. Instead, we communicate via email and phone, so we can all be in one place at a time (which would be expensive!). This makes it easy for people who don't have access yet and have wanted it since childhood.

Time Management Skills

Time management skills are essential for a virtual assistant, and it's your job to know how much time you have each day and prioritize tasks accordingly. It would help if you learned how to say no and when it's okay to say yes.

For example: If an opportunity will take up half of your day and doesn't bring in any money, it may not be worth taking on right now (or ever). You should focus on completing the most important tasks first so they don't get pushed back due to lack of time later on!

Organization Skills

Organizational skills are essential for any business professional. You'll need to be able to multitask, prioritize your tasks, and manage your time effectively. If you have this skill set, it will help ensure that you meet deadlines and complete projects promptly.

Customer Service Skills

You will need excellent customer service skills to succeed as a virtual assistant. You must understand your client's needs and respond to their requests promptly. You'll also need to handle questions and requests positively, solve problems and provide solutions.

Attention to Detail

Attention to detail is an essential asset for being a virtual assistant. You must listen closely and pay attention to your client's words because they may only sometimes express themselves clearly. You also have to understand the details of their project or task, which may involve researching information online or referencing documents they send you.

Finally, attention to detail can help you notice when something has gone wrong with their project--for example, if they didn't receive an email when it was sent out (or vice versa).

Virtual assistants are excellent for those looking to make money from home. If you have the right skills and can manage your time well, this could be a great opportunity! Global Conversion Agency has a lot to offer. 

[stellophiliac]

how to build a digital music collection and stuff

spotify sucks aaaass. so start downloading shit!!

file format glossary

.wav is highest quality and biggest

.mp3 is very small, but uses lossy compression which means it's lower quality

.flac is smaller than .wav, but uses lossless compression so it's high quality

.m4a is an audio file format that apple uses. that's all i really know

downloading the music

doubledouble.top is a life saver. you can download from a variety of services including but not limited to apple music, spotify, soundcloud, tidal, deezer, etc.

i'd recommend ripping your music from tidal or apple music since they're the best quality (i think apple music gives you lossless audio anyway. .m4a can be both lossy and lossless, but from the text on doubledouble i assume they're ripping HQ files off apple music)

i also love love love cobalt.tools for ripping audio/video from youtube (they support a lot of other platforms too!)

of course, many artists have their music on bandcamp — purchase or download directly from them if you can. bandcamp offers a variety of file formats for download

file conversion

if you're downloading from apple music with doubledouble, it spits out an .m4a file.

.m4a is ok for some people but if you prefer .flac, you may wanna convert it. ffmpeg is a CLI (terminal) tool to help with media conversion

if you're on linux or macOS, you can use parameter expansion to batch convert all files in a folder. put the files in one place first, then with your terminal, cd into the directory and run:

for i in *.m4a; do ffmpeg -i "$i" "${i%.*}.flac"; done

this converts from .m4a to .flac — change the file extensions if needed.

soulseek

another way to get music is through soulseek. soulseek is a peer-to-peer file sharing network which is mainly used for music. nicotine+ is a pretty intuitive (and open-source) client if you don't like the official one.

you can probably find a better tutorial on soulseek somewhere else. just wanted to make this option known

it's bad etiquette to download from people without sharing files of your own, so make sure you've got something shared. also try to avoid queuing up more than 1-2 albums from one person in a row

tagging & organizing your music

tagging: adding metadata to a music file (eg. song name, artist name, album) that music players can recognize and display

if you've ripped music from a streaming platform, chances are it's already tagged. i've gotten files with slightly incorrect tags from doubledouble though, so if you care about that then you might wanna look into it

i use musicbrainz picard for my tagging. they've got pretty extensive documentation, which will probably be more useful than me

basically, you can look up album data from an online database into the program, and then match each track with its file. the program will tag each file correctly for you (there's also options for renaming the file according to a certain structure if you're into that!)

there's also beets, which is a CLI tool for... a lot of music collection management stuff. i haven't really used it myself, but if you feel up to it then they've got extensive documentation too. for most people, though, it's not really a necessity

how you wanna organize your music is completely up to you. my preferred filestructure is:

artist > album > track # track

using a music player

the options for this are pretty expansive. commonly used players i see include VLC, foobar2000, clementine (or a fork of it called strawberry), and cmus (for the terminal)

you can also totally use iTunes or something. i don't know what audio players other systems come with

i personally use dopamine. it's a little bit slow, but it's got a nice UI and is themeable plus has last.fm support (!!!)

don't let the github page fool you, you don't have to build from source. you can find the releases here

click the "assets" dropdown on the most recent release, and download whichever one is compatible with your OS

syncing

if you're fine with your files just being on one device (perhaps your computer, but perhaps also an USB drive or an mp3 player), you don't have to do this

you can sync with something like google drive, but i hate google more than i hate spotify

you can get a free nextcloud account from one of their providers with 2GB of free storage. you can use webDAV to access your files from an app on your phone or other device (documents by readdle has webDAV support, which is what i use)

disroot and blahaj.land are a couple providers i know that offer other services as well as nextcloud (so you get more with your account), but accounts are manually approved. do give them a look though!!

if you're tech-savvy and have an unused machine lying around, look into self-hosting your own nextcloud, or better yet, your own media server. i've heard that navidrome is a pretty good audio server. i unfortunately don't have experience with self-hosting at the moment so i have like zero advice to give here. yunohost seems to be a really easy way to manage a server

afterword

i don't know if any of this is helpful, but i just wanted to consolidate my personal advice in one place. fuck big tech. own your media, they could take it away from you at any moment

[mywealthlocker]

Investment Document Repository helps your investment documents and other finances secure and in one place. My Wealth Locker provides an integrated & secure document.

[certificationconsult]

[iso-certification-consultant]

https://theamberpost.com/post/explanation-of-how-asset-management-focuses-in-2025

Step forward to the future of asset management: mass customization, industrial-strength technology, and workforce shifts. Is it possible to proactively put together the vision, strategy, and capabilities required to invent your company's future in the face of so much change? This is one of the major problems facing investment businesses today.

Investment firms must adopt a 360° transformation strategy in response to the rapidly changing business and technological landscape of today. This includes rethinking the client experience, reshaping the internal data flow, and incorporating technology into investment decision-making and product capabilities.

[documentationconsultancy]

Documentationconsultancy.com is happy to announce the relaunch of its Editable ISO 55001 Documents Packages, a move that will equip organizations with the tools they need for efficient Asset Management. ISO 55001:2014 is a global standard developed by ISO for asset management system certification, requiring organizations to implement an asset management system and prepare documents that meet the standard's requirements. With the help of the all-inclusive packages, businesses can easily handle the complexity of ISO 55001 compliance. Organizations may efficiently manage their assets to accomplish their goals with the help of ISO 55001, a globally recognized standard for asset management systems. That being said, without the right tools and direction, achieving compliance can be a difficult endeavour.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How the kleptocrats and oligarchs hunt civil society groups to the ends of the Earth

It's a great time to be an oligarch! If you have accumulated a great fortune and wish to put whatever great crime lies behind it behind you, there is an army of fixers, lickspittles, thugs, reputation-launderers, procurers, henchmen, and other enablers who have turnkey solutions for laundering your reputation and keeping the unwashed from building a guillotine outside the gates of your compound.

The field of International Relations has studied the enemies of the Klept in detail: the Transnational Activist Network is a well-documented phenomenon. But far more poorly understood is the Transnational Uncivil Society Network, who will polish any turd of sufficient wealth to a high, professional gloss.

These TUSNs are the subject of a new, timely scholarly paper by Alexander Cooley, John Heathershaw and Ricard Soares de Oliveira: "Transnational Uncivil Society Networks: kleptocracy’s global fightback against liberal activism," published in last month's European Journal of International Relations:

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5e5a3052-c693-4991-a7cc-bc2b47134467/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=Cooley_et_al_2023_transnational_uncivil_society.pdf&type_of_work=Journal+article

The authors document how a collection of institutions – some coercive, others organized around good works – allow kleptocrats to take power, keep power, and use power. This includes "wealth managers, company providers, accounting firms, and international bankers" who create the complex financial structures that obscure the klept's wealth. It also includes "second citizenship managers and lawyers" that facilitate the klept's transnational nature, both to provide access to un-looted, prosperous places to visit, and boltholes to escape to in the face of coup or reform. It includes the real-estate brokers and other asset facilitators, who turn whole precincts of the world's greatest cities into empty safe-deposit boxes in the sky, while ensuring that footlose criminal elites always have a penthouse to perch in when they take a break from the desiccated husks they've drained dry back home.

Of course, it also includes the PR managers and philanthropic ventures that allow the klept to launder their reputation, to make themselves synonymous with good deeds rather than mass murder. Think here of how the Sacklers used charity to turn their family name into a synonym for culture and fine art, rather than death by opioid overdose:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/11/justice-delayed/#justice-redeemed

Beyond providing comfort to "Politically Exposed Persons" and "High Net-Worth Individuals," TUSNs are concerned with neutralizing TANs. Activists in these transnational networks play an inside-outside game: in-country activists will recruit peers abroad to bring attention to the crimes of their local kleptocrats. These overseas partners target the klept in the places they go to play and spend, spoiling their fun – and if they succeed in getting corrupt leaders censured abroad, then in-country activists can leverage that bad press to fight the klept at home.

To fight this "Boomerang Effect," TUSNs seek to burnish corrupt officials' reputations abroad, getting their names on humanitarian prizes, beloved sports teams, cultural institutions and great universities. They seek to capture international governance institutions that might wrong-foot kleptocrats, co-opting them to enable and even celebrate looters.

When it comes to elite philanthropy, TUSNs are necessarily selective. Kleptocrats' foundations don't fund anti-kleptocratic groups – they stick to "education, public health, the environment and the arts." These domains steer clear of human rights questions that might implicate their benefactors. Russian oligarchs love children's charities and disability rights – provided they don't target the Russian state.

If charitable giving is reputation laundering's carrot, then "reputation management" is the laundry's stick. Think of organized copyfraudsters who clone websites that have criticized their clients, then backdate the articles, then accuse the originals of infringing copyright in order to get them de-listed from Google or taken offline altogether:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#dark-ops

Reputation managers also spend a lot of time in court. In the UK – the world's leader in libel tourism, thanks to a legal system designed to let posh monsters sue muckraking journalists into silence – Russian oligarchs have perfected the art of forcing their critics to shut up and go away:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/04/londongrad/#enablers

Indeed, London is a one-stop shop for the global klept, a place were forelock-tugging Renfields will buy you a Mayfair mansion under cover of a numbered company, sue your critics into silence, funnel your money into an anonymous Channel Islands account:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/07/the-klept/#pep

They'll sell you whole galleriesworth of "fine art" that you can have relocated to a climate-controlled container in a Swiss or Irish freeport:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/14/poesy-the-monster-slayer/#moneylab

They'll give your thick-as-pigshit progeny a PhD and never check to see whether he wrote his thesis himself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSE%E2%80%93Gaddafi_affair

Then they'll hook you up with a cyber-arms dealer to hunt your enemies by capturing their devices:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/27/gas-on-the-fire/#a-safe-place-for-dangerous-ideas

But don't let Brexit stop you from shopping for bargains on the continent. The Golden Passports of the EU – available in a variety of flavors, from Maltese to Cypriot to Portuguese – offer the discerning failson access to the luxury good shops and fleshpots of 27 advanced economies, making it a favorite of the Khmer Riche – the junior klept of Cambodia's ruling faction:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/cambodia-hunsen-wealth/

But golden passports are for amateurs. Skilled klepts travel on diplomatic passports, which offer the twin benefits of free movement and consequence-free criminality, thanks to diplomatic immunity. The former Kazakh dictator's son-in-law enjoyed a freewheeling diplomatic life in Vienna; one daughters of the dictator of Tajikistan had a jolly time as an envoy to DC; another, to London (where else?).

All this globetrotting serves a second purpose: when rival elites seize power back home and force the old guard into exile, those ex-monsters can show up in the lands they called their second homes and apply for asylum. It turns out that even bomb-the-boats UK will welcome any asylum seeker who enters via the private jet terminal at City Airport (to be fair, these "refugees" have extensive properties in Zone 1 and country places in the Home Counties, so they won't need housing).

This stuff works. After Kazakh state goons murdered at least 14 protesters at a Zhanaozen oil facility in 2011, human rights groups around the world took up the cause. But they were effectively neutralized by TUSNs, with former UK PM Tony Blair writing on behalf of the Kazakh government to the EU condemning any kind of international investigation into the mass killings (add "former Prime Ministers" to the list of commodities for sale in the UK to sufficiently well-resourced murderer).

The authors close their paper with two case-studies. The first is of the daughters of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov, Gulnara and Lola. And President Karimov was indeed a dictator: he trapped his population within his borders, forced them to use unconvertible scrip in place of money, and ordered the murder of hundreds of peaceful protesters, plunging the country into international isolation.

But while Uzbeks were sealed within their borders, Gulnara Karimov became an international player, running a complex network of businesses that mixed the products of the nation's oilfields with her family's fortune. She solicited – and received – bribes from Teliasonera, MTS and Vimpelcom, who were all vying for the contract to provide service in Uzbekistan. All told, she extracted more than $1b in bribes, laundering them through Latvia, Hong Kong and New York. She acquired real-estate in France and Switzerland, and her spree continued until her father collaborated with Uzbek security to seize her assets and place her under house-arrest.

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva was Gulnara's estranged younger sister. She and her husband Timur Tillyaev ran the Dubai-based SecureTrade, which did extensive business with "opaque Scottish Limited Partnerships," laundering more than $127m in a single year to offshore accounts in the UAE and Switzerland. They acquired many luxe assets – a jet, a Californian villa, and an LA perfumier.

Lola styled herself as the face of the Karimovas abroad, a "philanthropist and cultural ambassador." She was a UNESCO ambassador and commissioned works of monumental art – and also sued the shit out of news outlets that reported factual matters about her family repressive activity at home. She organized AIDS charities in the name of Uzbekistan – even as her father was imprisoning a writer for publishing a book explaining how to have safer sex.

The second case-study is on Isabel dos Santos, "Africa's richest woman," daughter of Angolan dictator Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Isabel's vast fortune stemmed from her personal capture of vast swathes of the third-largest economy in Africa: "telecommunications, banking, diamonds, real estate and cement, among many others." Isabel enjoyed seemingly limitless access to state credit and co-investment, and was given first crack at newly deregulated industries. Foreign firms that invested in Angola were required to "partner" with Isabel's businesses.

Isabel claimed to be a "self-made woman" – a claim credulously parroted by the western press, including the FT. She used her homegrown fortune to become a major player abroad, especially in Portugal, where she was represented by the leading Portuguese law-firm PLMJ. Her enablers are who's who of corruption-loving lickspittles: McKinsey, Ernst and Young, Boston Consulting Group, and the Spanish BigLaw firm Uri Menendez.

Isabel cultivated a public facade of philanthropic giving and public spirited activism, serving as head of the Angolan Red Cross. She attended Davos and spoke at the LSE (she was also invited to Oxford, but her invitation was subsequently rescinded). On social media, she dismissed critics of her wealth and corruption as "colonialists," decrying their "racism" and "prejudice."

Isabel dos Santos's corrupt sources of wealth were finally, irrefutably exposed through the Luanda Leaks, in which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists mapped the network of "top banks, management consultants and legal firms that were central to dos Santos’s operations."

Both case studies shed light on the network of brilliant, driven enablers and procurers without whom the world's greatest monsters would falter. It's a rare window on a secretive world, one that is poorly understood even by its inhabitants. As Michael Mechanic wrote in Jackpot, his 2021 book on vast, intergenerational fortunes, the winners of the lucky orifice lottery often lack any real understanding of how The Money is structured, grown and protected:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/13/public-interest-pharma/#affluenza

This point was reiterated by Abigail Disney, in a brave piece on what it's like to grow up subject to the oversight of these millionaires who babysit the children of billionaires:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/19/dynastic-wealth/#caste

This is an important contribution to the literature. We naturally focus on the ultrawealthy individuals whose reputations and fortunes are the subject of so much attention, but without the TUSNs, they would be largely helpless.

Going to Burning Man? Catch me on Tuesday at 2:40pm on the Center Camp Stage for a talk about enshittification and how to reverse it; on Wednesday at noon, I'm hosting Dr Patrick Ball at Liminal Labs (6:15/F) for a talk on using statistics to prove high-level culpability in the recruitment of child soldiers.

On September 6 at 7pm, I'll be hosting Naomi Klein at the LA Public Library for the launch of Doppelganger.

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/24/launderers-enforcers-bagmen/#procurers

Image: Sam Valadi (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/132084522@N05/17086570218/

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

--

Colin (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_of_Westminster_from_the_dome_on_Methodist_Central_Hall_(cropped).jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[cosmicpuzzle]

Mercury in Houses

Mercury in 1st House

You are an intellectual person and have a lot of questions. You are curious and restless. You may have difficulty slowing down your mind. You are quick witted and mercurial (especially in signs Gemini, Virgo, Aries). You learn a lot from experiences than textbooks. You can be proud intellectually or don't appreciate others viewpoints.

Mercury in 2nd House

Your mind is often focused on financial matters and wealth. You often think about increasing your income. You have a good mind for selling and commerce and may succeed in business. You can micromanage your finances. You may be a good speaker too.

Mercury in 3rd House

You have an active mind, and you are good at writing and communication. You are a quick learner and may be employed in customer care, IT and education sector. You love short travels on cycles, bikes, trains and cars. You can have a lot of contacts.

Mercury in 4th House

You can be bit introverted, and your feelings are strong. You are interested in psychology and the past. You are interested in human behavior. You are nostalgic and remember things from the past. You can change residences often.

Mercury in 5th House

You are interested in love and romance. You are communicative and flirty in love. Your thoughts are on romance and fun often. You can be a creative person and do well with storytelling. You like to read romantic novels and may publish storybooks for children. You can be good at stockmarket.

Mercury in 6th House

You can be nervous and interested in health, diet and hygiene. You are a hard worker and do well in fields related to numbers, accounting and documents. You are good in solving day to day problems practically and efficiently.

Mercury in 7th House

You are attracted to people who are intelligent, witty and communicative and seek these attributes in a partner. Intellectual rapport with others is important to you. You need to feel that you can discuss any aspect of your relationship with your partner. You are suited to public relations work, as you enjoy meeting people and dealing with the public in general.

Mercury in 8th House

You have a deep interest in occult and metaphysics. You can be uncommunicative and reserved. You are good at research and investigation. You may be good at managing other's assets and in corporate finance.

Mercury in 9th House

You are interested in higher knowledge, philosophy and spiritual matters. You are motivated to broaden your horizons. You can travel abroad for education and may be good at learning foreign languages.

Mercury in 10th House

Your mind is focused on professional achievement. You are suited to business, academic work, writing, journalism, politics and the communication industries. You have organizational skills, leadership capabilities and the ability to make executive decisions. You enjoy variety in your profession and may hold down more than one job or seek a career that constantly tests your skills.

Mercury in 11th House

Spending time with your friends is important to you. You belong to common interest groups or societies. A natural networker, you are able to bring people together for a purpose or cause.

Mercury in 12th House

You need to create a space in your life where you can retreat into your own private thoughts. You are quite happy in your own company and tend to prefer to work alone or behind-the-scenes. You may forget things easily.

For Readings DM

[obbystars]

Safe Haven

Synopsis: It’s not like he minds if you use his hideout as a safe spot. Just be sure to leave at the earliest convenience before they get suspicious.

Notes: Sebastian Solace x GN!Reader / just a bunch of scenarios / not exactly romantic lol / practicing third person in this one. you’re not named and only referred to as expendable. / reader repeated deaths, mentions of blood and teethmarks

Credits: dividers by @cafekitsune

(got some dialogue that triggered when you hide in Sebastian’s shop as an angler passes by. obviously that inspired me lol. and yes this was being made while the update came out, i finally got the stupid we outta wall dwellers badge because of it. also sebastian can win against pandemonium apparently)

Sebastian was just looking through some of the documents he’s received from some of the EXR-P teams. He only just recently moved his shop so he figured it should be quiet for a while, but just as he thought of that, the lights had flickered. Not once, but twice. It was then followed up by the sound of someone running and crawling through the vent. Just a single, and familiar expendable.

They only just managed to make it inside his shop before an angler dashed by with a loud shriek. It was gone in an instant.

“A second later and I would’ve had to start cleaning out that vent,” he smirked, “Welcome back, friend,”

“Hi!” They waved as they stood up.

The one who just can’t stay dead. Of course it’s them. He’s not sure if they’re just stupid to not have reached the crystal yet despite his reluctant assist, or they have some other reason he doesn’t know about. They seemed oddly happy to see him almost every time, and they love to annoy him.

Once he started resorting to shooting them for using their flash beacon on him, they suddenly stopped and only teased him with it. They like to leave and re-enter his shop too just for the fun of it. There were times where they came in and left without buying anything but then came back and bought something.

On the bright side, they keep their distance which he’s actually glad for. They never got too close for comfort. They stay relatively near the vent when they talk to him and only approach him to grab items off his tail. As for the other teams who went much further, he should’ve just shot them.

At this point, Sebastian’s thoughts and gaze drift off elsewhere. The radio still spewing garbage noise, the piles of documents on the desk, his tail feeling awfully lighter now.

Absence of shuffling and footsteps. They’re being awfully quiet.

His fins twitch and he turns his attention back to the expendable. They got the stuff they wanted, but they’re sitting by the boxes in the far corner. They’re tired. They look like they’re dozing. It’s nothing new with them, but considering their circumstances, he thinks he’d be just as exhausted as they are. Being sent down here, dying, and doing everything all over again until they get that crystal. He wonders how they haven’t gone insane yet, or maybe they already were and they stay down here for no apparent reason.

Now that Sebastian thinks about it, a lot of the teams see his shop as a breath of fresh air from the things they had to endure. Some didn’t stay too long, while others had to be ushered out. His shop isn’t 100% safe, and they certainly aren’t safe with him. Sure it keeps them out of sight from the anglers, but he swears one of them got dragged out of the vent by a wall dweller.

Sebastian lets out a sigh and decides to go back to looking over the documents, especially the ones you placed on the desk in a separate pile. He’ll go over the flash drives with Painter if time allows it. Maybe he’ll finally have something that’ll get Urbanshade’s rivals to come over and him out of here in exchange for the assets here. Innovation hopefully.

After some time, he sees that you’re still here and closes the document he was just reading through.

“Hey, stay any longer and Urbanshade might get suspicious that they’ve lost your signal. Better get running,”

They hummed and quickly stretched out their legs and arms. They were about to leave, but he blocks the exit with his tail and clears his throat.

“I think you’re forgetting something. On the table,”

“Oh,” they laughed, “Thanks,”

He moved his tail away to let them leave, and they did just that but now without saying bye. He sighs. He’ll never understand them and their odd behavior towards him.

Sebastian had already moved shop after a few hours and along the way, found a few bodies to loot. He even found them. He took any and all he could take with him and made sure they were all fully powered with fresh new batteries. He takes one final look at them. Looks like something caught them off guard, and seeing the teeth marks over their neck, he can guess what exactly it was. He wasn’t sure if they didn’t look back on purpose or not. Part of him does want to know why they haven’t gotten to the crystal yet.

It was strange though. Usually those things leave nothing behind, but maybe they just didn’t have the chance as someone else might’ve been with them. Maybe they crossed paths at some point and decided to continue on together. It was a rare occurrence, but not impossible. There’s only so many ways to get to the crystal, after all. Seeing as the power’s still up, that other person probably didn’t get too far.

Once he found a new place that seemed good, and one that would be in the path the EXR-P would take, he organized everything and put some items on his tail. He turns off his lure for the time being. It’s not like he absolutely needs it, especially in the dark. His eyes grew accustomed to it, quite literally too.

After a few hours, he can hear the door on the other side of the vent open. One thing he’s also picked up on is that he can tell whether it’s them or not if they’re not rushing through like last time. He already knows it’s them.

“Oh hey! Get this. I found your corpse a bit ago, great haul by the way, lots of goods to pillage, took your items, replaced the batteries and voila! Good as new! Don’t worry, you can have them back for a price of course,”

They smiled as they looked up at him, “I’ve got a good haul this time. Think I’ll have those stuff back now,”

Sebastian watches them pick up the items that were originally in their possession before they died. He already noticed the flash beacon on their belt.

He can faintly hear footsteps coming from outside followed up with something crawling through the vent. He assumed at first that they didn’t come alone this time, but upon seeing the armless figure emerge, he unholstered his shotgun and didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. The expendable almost jumped as they turned around.

“Disgusting things…”

“Oh wow, thanks for that,” they looked up at him.

“You’re seriously going to miss the fact there’s footsteps approaching again?” He gives them a smile, “Don’t worry, you’re safe in here with me. I’m joking, you’re not,”

They suddenly twirl the flash beacon in their hand and pointed it at him. He grits his teeth and points his gun to them this time.

“I dare you,”

They only laughed and stored it away on their belt, “Nah, I’ll pass. The first time was enough,”

Sebastian scoffed and holstered his gun. Before they left, they bought some batteries and refilled their flashlight and flash beacon and they remembered to pick up the key card this time. They even went out of their way to drag the wall dweller out of the shop and do god knows what with it. Hopefully dump it out into a hole or maybe even burn it. That just means less work for him.

Sebastian goes to grab the documents they left for him, but just as he did, the lights flickered and he hears them running back.

“Back so soon?” He teases.

They shrugged with a smile, but it quickly fades as the familiar sound of a broken chorus is heard. Instinctively, his hand reached for his gun as his tail covered the vent. They even moved back towards him.

This wasn’t the first time that thing passed by, and one of those times, he ran into it and managed to escape from it. No doubt that the others it consumed since then had healed the wounds he gave it, and right now, this is a bad spot to be fighting it in. It’s way too cramped and the only way out is up. It’s still narrow and doesn’t make the situation any better.

Luckily, the creature passes by without noticing. The expendable turns to him with a grin, “So. I’m not safe in here with you?”

“Not. At. All,” he points his gun to them, “I would’ve left you here if that thing saw us,”

They laughed, “Yup, I know,”

“You are shockingly okay with that, which is mildly concerning,”

“You’re not the first person to leave me behind to die, so…”

“Looks like somebody needs to find better friends,”

They shrugged and hung around the shop for a little bit longer, checking the things they just bought. Once they were done, they waved to him and leaves.

“Try not to ruin the merchandise, yeah?” He calls out.

Sebastian wonders if he’d find their body again when he moves shop again. Will it be an angler this time? Or will nothing be left to find? Now that’d be a waste. That blacklight you had could fetch him more data.

One good thing about being able to get to places Sebastian wouldn’t have originally is that he can move place to place without having to worry about Urbanshade’s guardsmen too much. The tunnels he found were always nice but navigation can be a little difficult if you don’t know where you’re going. He’s not too worried about that, however. As long as it leads him away from trouble, he’ll go with it.

Sebastian was about to drop down into the room just below until he spotted a familiar expendable crawl through the vent. He paused and watched them with a grin.

“Huh… He’s not here,” they looked around for a bit as they continued to mutter to themself, “Am I late or is he late?”

Slowly and quietly, Sebastian climbed down towards them. He was careful to not make any sound while he was at it, and he only hoped you didn’t look up. They were just within arm’s reach now. Sebastian slowly reaches out, then grabs them by the back of their neck and pulls them up to him. They let out a yelp and started squirming but stopped once they saw it was him.

“You REALLY suck at watching out for monsters, huh?”

They sighed, “Yeah yeah, you’re very funny Sebastian. Now put me down!”

“Oh sure,” instead of gently placing them back down, he dropped them from that height and they fell right on their bottom.

With the crystal container they were provided, it didn’t help cushion their fall at all. In fact, it may have made it worse. Sebastian drops down in front of them and chuckled as they groaned.

“Maybe be careful with what you wish for,”

“Ow…”

“Anyway, onto business,” he moves on, “I’ve got quite a selection for you this time,”

They push themself up, still slightly rubbing their bottom, and eventually turned to Sebastian. There was the usual light sources, black light included shockingly enough, a medkit, and… Huh.

They pointed to the flesh of a wall dweller’s jaw, “How much for that?”

Sebastian in turn gives them a very odd look, “Out of all the things I have available, you want THAT?”

“Hey, you put it on sale. Unless maybe you had an empty slot and the empty slot bothered you that much, so you put wall dweller flesh on your tail,”

He stares at them and groans, “500 worth of data,”

“Done deal,”

And the moment the expendable paid for it, they plopped it in their mouth. Sebastian feels as if they’re long gone at this point, though anyone stupid enough to actually accept to come down here probably already were.

Wait, that time where he shot the wall dweller… Don’t tell him…

He stopped thinking about it, “You’re so disgusting…”

“Helps me whenever that shark fries my brain a little. Or Painter manages to hit me,”

“What are you even talking about?”

They looked up at him with wide eyes, “Hm? Well, eating their flesh gives me a nice regeneration perk. Dying gets rid of it, obviously,”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah! You didn’t know? Shockingly, they taste a little like chicken,”

They did. They absolutely did.

“So… You’re telling me that eating a piece of them gives you, what? Regenerative abilities?”

They nodded, “Yup! It’s pretty convenient,”

“And that’s not in their document because…?” He muttered to himself this time.

“Who knows? Anyway, see you in my next life!”

Yeah, they’ve lost it. Definitely.